Inspiring field report

A Matter of the Heart: Education in India Anurag Behar westland books Rs.599 Pages 375 A valuable narrative recounting stories of dedicated teachers transforming the lives of students in nondescript villages and far-flung sites Anurag Behar has rich experience in the field of education by way of working with the Azim Premji Foundation and travelling extensively at the grassroots level. Like others who have worked in the field, he argues that in the end, good education is ‘A Matter of the Heart’. This insight is a clear indication of how the profession of teaching is unlike any other. With other caregiving professions, including medicine, accounting, protective forces, and law that require close interaction with the primary stakeholders, patients, clients, etc, a certain level of detachment is warranted, for retaining distance and maintaining professional behaviour. All these rules are a hindrance in the practice of the teachers’ profession. In this vocation, one must be passionate and care deeply and genuinely for students. This is evident in the hundred-odd anecdotes that Behar shares in this volume. Behar’s extensive fieldwork covers hitherto ignored villages and nondescript sites. The book is a valuable source tapping into stories that would have been lost to history. Documentation of the changes made by the work of Renu Upadhyaya in Uddham Singh Nagar, Uttarakhand; Shobha in Gulbarga, Karnataka, and teachers and principals in different parts of the country, is a reminder for teachers to maintain commitment and zeal towards their work, wherever they are. These are motivational stories of transforming the lives of students and inspiring hope, peace, and possibilities. Apart from personal commitment and actions of teachers, Behar also highlights the important role of government in education. Through various policies that work against teachers, such as recruiting teachers at various pay levels and inadequate funding, the government has largely relegated public schools to the sidelines. Behar argues that despite the widespread prevalence of private school education, it is government/public schools that can make real impact. He admits the ability of private players to provide low cost education. But according to him, low fees charging private schools are “parasitic” in their exploitation of the labour market. It is left to the individual teacher who even if dissatisfied with the workplace, to somehow find the inner strength and resolve to provide quality education to students. A committed teacher teaches with her heart not because of good infrastructural facilities, decent pay scale, and a supportive environment, but even despite a lack of all of this. In ‘The Ideology of Education’ (pp. 116-118), he discusses two studies that argue that there’s no substitute for public education in providing quality education at the grassroots. Two important school practices that can be culled from the anecdotes that Behar shares highlight the importance of community. School-community partnerships, where community members contribute towards improving the quality of education that their children receive, has greatly improved relationships between teachers, administrators and local communities. Community members demonstrate pride in government schools that genuinely work to improve the…